This invention relates generally to wall hanging and mounting devices and, more particularly, to a wall mounting and alignment device that enables a user to prepare a wall surface for mounting a wall fixture, such as a picture frame or shelf, in a level manner without measuring and without using multiple tools.
Mounting a picture frame or shelf on a wall is often a frustrating time-consuming chore, mainly because it may require multiple tools and multiple steps. For example, a user may measure a distance between two or more mounting holes on the back of a frame, drill multiple holes or scribe pencil marks upon a wall surface, and then insert fasteners such as nails or screws at respective positions on the wall surface on which the frame may be hung. Unfortunately, mounting a picture frame may turn out to be a trial and error process as a person may try to “guess” the distance between two or more pre-set mounting holes, insert fasteners into the wall, try to hang the frame on the fasteners, and then have to re-adjust everything if the fasteners are not correctly placed. Even if the fasteners have been correctly spaced apart, they may not be perfectly level, resulting in the picture frame leaning one way or the other.
As is apparent from the description above, a person may need a measuring device in order to correctly measure a distance between mounting holes on a structure to be mounted, a pencil to mark locations on a wall surface corresponding to the distance between mounting holes, and a bubble level to verify that the mounting holes are horizontally level. Although assumably effective for their intended purposes, the existing devices for mounting a wall fixture such as a picture frame or shelf are inconvenient and difficult to utilize together to quickly and accurately mount a wall fixture.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a wall mounting and alignment device that enables a user to impress markings into a wall surface into which fasteners may be inserted without having to first inscribe pencil markings. Further, it would be desirable to have a wall mounting and alignment device which can span a distance corresponding to wall fixture mounting holes without having to measure that space and without having to hold the object up against the wall surface. In fact, the template may be formed while the object to be hung remains face down. In addition, it would be desirable to have a wall mounting and alignment device that provides an instant visual indication of whether the device is horizontally level.